Jesus Showed His Love
In the New Testament there are many examples of Jesus love and service to others. One of the greatest examples you can read is found in John 13:1-17. The Bible says that Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart from this world to be with the Father but He loved His own who were in the world loving them to the end. Here Christ is talking about His disciples, the men who had stuck with Him throughout.
To show His love and gratitude, Jesus girded Himself with a towel, took a basin of water and began to wash the feet of His disciples. He would then wipe their feet with the towel. What great love was shown was shown by God’s Son in this simple act.
Activity
You can share Jesus love with His disciples in a very simple activity.
a. Using a heart shaped box write or type on a sheet of paper and attach it to the box, the words, “Jesus loves”. You can use old Valentine boxes for this activity or buy a small one from dollar store.
b. Inside the box put paper hearts with the names of the 12 disciples’ names and then add the word “you”. I chose to purchase a heart garland I found on a value aisle at Target, cut it up, and write the names of the disciples on it with a Sharpie marker. (We create unit kits of all our Bible lessons so these materials will be reused and are a good purchase for future use.)
c. Share the Bible story using visuals from www.freeBibleimages.com
d. Talk about how Jesus loved His disciples so much that He as willing to wash their feet. Back in Jesus time, People wore sandals everywhere and they walked on dusty, dirty roads so the disciples feet would have been very dirty. Jesus did not care.
e. Show the children your box. Read the words on top. Ask them who do they think Jesus Loves? Open the top and let the children see inside. Explain that the hearts have words on them. Let the children pick out a heart and you read the heart or if they are older they can read the heart. One of the heart says “you”. Ask, “What does that mean?” Talk about how much Jesus loves each of us.
f. Sing a song appropriate for the age of the child like “Jesus Loves Me”.
Modification: This activity can be used with infants. Just add a mirror to the inside of the box instead of the hearts and tell the baby how much Jesus and God love the Baby.
Use with:
a. Jesus Had a Heart of Service craft
